Egg vs. Chicken iPhone review

“Very much like Angry Birds,” reads one of the App Store reviews of Egg vs. Chicken. You’d be forgiven for making that assumption, given the bird theme, but that’s far from the case.

Indeed, Egg vs. Chicken is more like Plants vs. Zombies than Rovio’s modern classic.

So why the comparison? Well, for one thing, the aim of the game is to thwart an army of approaching birds using an array of eggs. So it’s chickens and eggs instead of zombies and plants. The music is pretty similar too.

But I’m only scratching the surface with the Plants vs. Zombies analogy. There’s a match-three element, too. Before launching your eggs from the bottom of the screen, you have to combine a trio of same-coloured eggs, in any formation you like.

You could, for example, have three (or more) positioned horizontally (the game plays vertically), thus nailing three (or more) birds in one. Alternatively, you could stack them vertically, taking out a column of birds or hitting bigger birds (which can take more damage) multiple times.

It’s a true puzzler; white eggs get in the way as you attempt to line up brown eggs (and vice versa). And to make things even more complicated, you unlock different coloured eggs as you go along. Worse still, there are immovable traffic cones.

You can slide eggs up, down, left, or right, and they always travel till they collide with another egg or the aviary wall (or those bloody traffic cones). It can be quite tricky, but incredibly satisfying when things go your way.

Egg vs. Chicken features the now obligatory rating system, with one to three stars awarded after each level. The difference here is: the stars can be used to buy stuff, so it’s not simply an arbitrary feature.

The shop system is made slightly more complicated with the inclusion of coins. They can be picked up in battle, or – if you’re really lazy – you can buy them from the App Store. Indeed, you can buy stars too, if you’re so inclined.

So, anyway, you can use your currency - stars and coins - to buy weapons such as bombs and landmines; defenses, including electro-hay bales and the ability to remove traffic cones; and power-ups for your eggs and weapons.

There are five sets of levels, with 36 stars up for grabs in each. The developer promises a sixth set of levels is coming soon. There's plenty of bang for your buck.

Speaking of bucks, Egg vs. Chicken is in fact free. True, there’s the odd advert, and a freemium element with buyable stars and coins, but it’s all good.

Oh, I should mention that the game occasionally struggled when there were lots of birds on-screen, but I’m using a second gen iPod touch. I suspect the iPhone 4 and iPads would be fine with their increased processing juice.

Pros

Lots of levels

Array of power-ups

It’s free!

Cons

Ads

Freemium stuff

Summary: Egg vs. Chicken is Plants vs. Zombies with a match-three element. What’s not to like?